Former Don Brian Irvine used to pride himself on keeping a clean sheet.
The Scottish Cup-winning hero of 1990 loved nothing more than shutting out the opposition – and he can see the same steely resolve burning bright in Barry Robson’s Aberdeen.
The Dons kept six clean sheets in their first 23 league matches under sacked boss Jim Goodwin. They’ve already kept six in Robson’s 10 games in charge.
Sunday’s 2-0 win against Rangers made it five clean sheets in a row.
More than 10-and-a-half hours have passed since the Dons last conceded a goal in open-play, and Irvine is in no doubt it has been a pivotal factor in the club’s revival under Robson, with the Reds taking pole position in the race for third.
He said: “The defence is the important change for me. The old saying: ‘if you don’t lose goals, you don’t lose games’ is certainly ringing true as far as Aberdeen are concerned.
“The centre-backs and the goalkeeper have been terrific and it’s the bottom line of why they are doing so well.
“I remember from my own playing days at Pittodrie, the importance of a strong defence. A 1-0 or 2-0 victory was common.
“As a player I took satisfaction from a clean sheet in the same way a striker did a goal.
“You can see the three guys at the back feel the same way. Mattie Pollock, Liam Scales and Angus MacDonald have been excellent.”
Roos has been a crucial cog in the Dons’ machine
Irvine can also recognise the value of a good goalkeeper behind him, too, having played with Theo Snelders – and he sees another one in current Dons custodian Kelle Roos.
The Dons’ winning run has propelled them to within touching distance of a return to Europe and Irvine believes Roos’ contribution has been equally important.
He said: “We shouldn’t ignore the role of Kelle Roos in this.
“Think back to the St Johnstone game a few weeks ago. It was a 1-0 victory and a hard-earned clean sheet not just due to the defence, but also to a terrific late save from the goalkeeper as well.
“But the team in general looks very solid defensively. They’ve given themselves the base to go and build from and win games.”
Simple-but-effective is Aberdeen’s defensive mantra
A back-to-basics, no-nonsense approach is working brilliantly for Robson’s Reds and Irvine believes it was the biggest difference between the Dons and their beaten opponents Rangers on Sunday.
He said: “Look at Rangers – they won 5-2 against St Mirren the week before the Dons game and that’s not convincing for me.
“I’d look at 2-0 or 3-0 as more assured than 5-2 every time.
“If you have lost a couple of goals, but still won, it suggests the control wasn’t quite there in the game.
“Aberdeen have a solid backline and the confidence among everyone involved is clear to see.
“They don’t mess about. They win the ball, play it into the middle and let a team-mate go and create.
“Their first job is to defend and they do it so well.”
Robson deserves huge credit for revival
Irvine cannot explain why Aberdeen have gone from being humiliated in the Scottish Cup and in their two trips to Edinburgh in January to European contenders.
He remains baffled as to what went wrong under former boss Jim Goodwin, but he says it is not hard to see what is going right with Robson in charge.
He said: “It’s an incredible turnaround for the team and it really doesn’t make sense to go from one win in 10 games to eight wins from the next 10.
“As an outsider looking in, it seems to me there has to be reasons for how that transformation has happened, but certainly a lot of credit should go to the manager.
“We don’t know why results before were so bad and there has to have been more happening than we know about.
“But it makes what has happened since all the more impressive.
“The contrast with Aberdeen a couple of months ago and the unbelievable run they are on just now is unbelievable.”
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